Francesca Woodman- Corey Keller

The Shape of the World - K. L. Going

The Last of August - Brittany Cavallaro

Woman in gold (DVD)

The improbability of love - Hannah Rothschild

The improbability of love - Hannah Rothschild

Summary: "Annie McMorrow, 31 and not recovered from the end of her long-term relationship, is an assistant to film producer Carlo Spinetti and then to his chilling wife Rebecca Winkleman Spinetti whose father started Winkleman Fine Art in Curzon St. Annie has spent her meagre savings on a dusty painting from a junk shop to give to her new, unsuitable, boyfriend who never shows up for his birthday dinner. The painting now hers, talks, but only to us. Shrewd, spoiled, charming, world weary and cynical, he comments perceptively on Annie, and the modern world and tells tales about his previous owners: Louis XV, Voltaire, Catherine the Great among others. The story unfolds through this voice and many others--unexpected, entertaining, and strangely authentic. Annie will have her apartment ransacked and be pursued by dealers, buyers and an auctioneer in an attempt to get back the painting."-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* After writing about her fascinating great-aunt in The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild (2013), Rothschild delivers her first novel, a capacious and fluently knowledgeable tale that excoriates with mischievously satirical intent the viciously competitive world of high-stakes art collecting. The fact that art, the embodiment of beauty and humankind's highest aspirations, arouses villainy of appalling dimensions is a paradox Rothschild roundly threshes, along with the persistent denigration of women and the moral morass cracked open in war. But these dark matters are wrapped within the captivating story of Annie McDee, a young woman of small means and boundless passion for history and food, trying to mend a blasted heart, cope with her alcoholic mother, and succeed in London as a chef. When she purchases a grimy yet seductive old painting in a junk shop, she innocently sets off an art-world and geopolitical cataclysm. Though the storytelling machinery creaks a bit, Rothschild, the first woman to chair London's National Gallery, is a dazzling omniscient narrator giving voice to an irresistible cast of reprobates and heroes, from a secret Nazi to campy and conniving art-world players, Annie's persistent suitor, and the 300-year-old, long-lost masterpiece itself. An opulently detailed, suspensefully plotted, shrewdly witty novel of decadence, crimes ordinary and genocidal, and improbable love. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Rape of Europa (DVD)

Rape of Europa (DVD)

Summary: Imagine the world without our masterpieces. Interviews with eyewitnesses and historians and newsreel footage show how during World War II the Nazis systematically took or destroyed the art of Europe. It follows the the heroic Europeans who first hid, and then set out to find and return what had been taken, with the help of the Allied forces "Monuments Men". It is work that continues to this day.

Video Librarian Reviews
An engrossing documentary, The Rape of Europa tells the interrelated stories of the Nazi plunder of priceless objets d'art from conquered territories during World War II, the simultaneous efforts by Allied forces to preserve as much of Europe's artistic patrimony as possible while working towards the defeat of Germany, and the subsequent attempts to restore stolen and/or damaged items to their proper owners and original form. Based on the bestselling book by Lynn H. Nicholas (who appears as one of several talking-head commentators), the film draws on a wealth of archival footage to document Hitler's own artistic ambitions and his attempts, along with underlings such as Luftwaffe head Hermann Goering, to steal some artistic masterworks for personal collections while systematically destroying others—such as Polish and Russian national treasures—officially considered degenerate because they represented the work of "inferior" races. Attention is also paid here to the heroic efforts by Polish, Russian, Italian, and French patriots who strove to save endangered artwork, as well as a unit of experts attached to the American army who advised the military about minimizing damage while also aiding in the recovery of pieces that had been carted off to secret locations. The documentary follows its subject into the postwar period, detailing the extensive repair and reconstruction work, as well as the international effort to return items to their rightful owners. Narrated with quiet authority by Oscar-nominee Joan Allen, this is a fascinating film that sheds light on a lesser-known but culturally significant aspect of World War II history. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2009.

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Museum masterpieces The Louvre (DVD)

Museum masterpieces The Louvre (DVD)

Summary: "In Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre, expert art critic and historian Richard Brettell takes you on an unforgettable journey through one of the world's greatest museums. This 12-lecture series begins with an overview of the Louvre's colorful history as royal palace, art academy, and national showcase. Then you'll explore some of the most beautiful and renowned examples from the museum's remarkable collection of European paintings from the late medieval period through the early 19th century, including masterworks by Raphael, Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Watteau, Rubens and Vermeer..."--Publisher description.

Lectures: 1. Palace to Museum, the story of the Louvre -- 2. Leonardo and the origins of the collections -- 3. Italian Renaissance and the Baroque painting -- 4. Spanish school of painting -- 5. Rubens and Flemish painting, Early German -- 6. Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Dutch painting -- 7. De La Tour, Le Nain, and 17th century painting -- 8. Claude and Poussin, French painter in Rome -- 9. Watteau and Chardin -- 10. Boucher, Fragonard, and the Rococo in France -- 11. Jacques-Louis David and his school -- 12. Delacrois and Ingres, the great dialectic.

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Paganini's Ghost - Paul Adam

Paganini's Ghost - Adam, Paul

Summary: After an unsavory art dealer is found dead in his hotel room, violinmaker Giovanni Castiglione must search for an instrument once owned by famed violinist Niccoláo Paganini--and solve a mystery that has gone unanswered for over a century.



Booklist Reviews
A day after a heavily promoted violin recital in Cremona, Italy, at which prize-winning Russian prodigy Yevgeny Ivanov plays the priceless violin once owned by Paganini, a visiting French art dealer is found murdered in his hotel room. When a scrap of paper torn from a Paganini piece played by Ivanov seems key to opening an ornate gold box found in the victim's possession, violin maker Gianni Castiglione (introduced in The Rainaldi Quartet, 2006) is called into the case by his friend, police detective Antonio Guastafeste. Castiglione cracks the code to find that the now-empty box once housed a small violin, setting him—with Guastafeste—on a cross-continental search, during which other murders are committed, and Castiglione must call on his knowledge of history, genealogy, and provenance to find long-missing treasures and solve the crimes. In this stylish mystery, widower Castiglione is further humanized by his developing romance with Margherita Severini and his relationship with young Ivanov. An intriguing puzzle combines with an enthralling mix of Italian ambience, history, and—most of all—music.

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The dinner party - Judy Chicago

The dinner party: restoring women to history - Chicago, Judy

Summary: "The official publication celebrating Judy Chicago's feminist art masterpiece, The Dinner Party installation at the Brooklyn Museum, and an introduction to outstanding women in history... The Dinner Party, a monumental triangular table, and the Heritage Floor on which the table rests, represents 1,038 women in history--39 by unique large ceramic plates and runners with another 999 names inscribed on the floor's ceramic tiles. It has been seen by more than a million visitors during its international exhibition tour, and has been a principal destination at the Brooklyn Museum since its permanent housing in 2007. A perfect companion to a revolutionary artwork, the book is a must-have for both long-standing fans of Judy Chicago's oeuvre and young artists and women looking for reflections of themselves in the history of Western Civilization."--www.Amazon.com.

Publishers Weekly Reviews
When noted feminist artist Chicago was an undergrad, one of her history professors declared: "Women's contributions to European intellectual history? They made none." As she explains in the introduction to the first book to represent her groundbreaking mixed-media installation "The Dinner Party" (1974-79), this comment inspired her to create an alternative history of women's cultural, political, and scholarly achievements. Consisting of 39 handmade place settings, celebrating notable women from the primordial goddess to Georgia O'Keefe, the installation has been permanent housed in the Brooklyn Museum's Sackler Center for Feminist Art since 2007. Chicago describes the work's genesis, evolution, its collective nature, problematic exhibition history, and public impact. Organized to mirror the exhibition, each section is divided into four chronological wings, rather than chapters, and includes a short description of the woman represented and a photograph of her plate and place setting. Surrounding the photographs are summaries of the other women whose 999 names are inscribed on the ceramic tile floor ("Heritage Floor") on which the triangular table rests. Many of the plates photograph well, particularly those for Sappho and Virginia Woolf, and handmade runners are spectacular. In this volume, published to coincide with her 75th birthday and including a foreword by Brooklyn Museum director Arnold L. Lehman, and essays by Frances Borzello and Jane F. Gerhard, Chicago offers a vibrant visual and textual encyclopedia of female achievement. 100 color illus. (Apr.)

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Cutie and the boxer (DVD)

Cutie and the boxer (DVD)

Summary: In New York City in 1969, nineteen-year-old art student Noriko fell in love with 41-year-old avant-garde artist Ushio Shinohara and put her career on hold to marry and support this rising star of the Manhattan art world. But 40 years later and still struggling, Ushio remains consumed with reinforcing his legacy via his 'boxing' paintings, while Noriko is now finding her own creative voice through a series of drawings.

Video Librarian Reviews
Filmmaker Zachary Heinzerling's Oscar-nominated documentary begins with an arresting title sequence in which diminutive 80-year-old avant-garde Japanese emigrant artist Ushio Shinohara creates one of his trademark "boxing" paintings—methodically moving left to right while beating the bejeezus out of a huge rectangular canvas with his paint-drenched boxing gloves, finishing the work in about two minutes. In 1969, the-41-year-old Ushio married 19-year-old art student Noriko in New York City, where the couple still live, struggling to make rent payments (at one point, Ushio literally stuffs some of his surreal sculptures into a battered suitcase and jets to Japan, returning with a few thousand dollars and a beaming smile). Noriko continues to pursue her own artistic dreams, creating drawings of a nude "Cutie and Bullie" in a series of semi-autobiographical cartoon panels (sometimes presented in striking iconographic animation here), although Ushio feels that his own work is much more important ("the average one has to support the genius"). But while the couple clearly have a loving relationship, Noriko is also starting to chafe at the proverbial bit, a little tired of being a "free secretary, free assistant, free chef." Fate smiles on Noriko when she lands the chance to do a joint exhibition with her husband (tellingly, he wants to call the exhibit "Roar!"; she successfully names it "Love Is a Roar"). Heinzerling's documentary interweaves fly-on-the-wall footage of the artists' daily lives (and interactions with their alcoholic artist son, Alex), combined with excerpts from a 1970s documentary by Rod McCall entitled Shinohara: The Last Artist. Serving up a delightful portrait of an unusual artist couple, this entertaining documentary is recommended. (R. Pitman). Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2014.

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Cave of forgotten dreams (DVD)

Cave of forgotten dreams (DVD)

Summary: A new documentary from Werner Herzog follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. An unforgettable cinematic experience that provides an unique glimpse of pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago, almost twice as old as any previous discovery.

Video Librarian Reviews
In this hypnotic documentary, filmmaker Werner Herzog visits a cavern in the remote French countryside containing the oldest prehistoric wall paintings yet discovered. Given permission for a brief photo shoot in the Chauvet Cave—uncovered in 1994—Herzog and his team follow stringent rules designed to protect the site from contamination. Clad in space-age suits, the crew follow a narrow walkway, focusing their lenses on the artwork, using the play of light and shade to reveal the almost cinematic charcoal depictions of bears, rhinos, lions, and horses. Periodically they pause to note the radiant stalactites and preserved remnants of ancient human and animal habitation, including skulls of cave bears and skeletal remains of other creatures. Interspersed throughout are Herzog's observations, some delightfully wry but most meditating on what the images convey about the singularity of human nature, the seemingly innate impulse to express one's self, and the fragility of man's creations. Herzog also interviews scientists who've been investigating Chauvet, as well as art historians, and "cave finders" who use various skills to locate potential new sites. As always, the filmmaker manages to draw out his subjects' eccentricities as their remarks take a poetic or spiritual turn. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is an evocative work that raises fundamental questions about the human condition and modern man's links with—and differences from—distant ancestors. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.

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Go : a Kidd's guide to graphic design - Chip Kidd

Go : a Kidd's guide to graphic design - Kidd, Chip

Summary: Kids love to express themselves, and are designers by nature - whether making posters for school, deciding what to hang in their rooms, or creating personalized notebook covers. Go, by the award-winning graphic designer Chip Kidd, is a stunning introduction to the ways in which a designer communicates his or her ideas to the world. It's written and designed just for those curious kids, not to mention their savvy parents, who want to learn the secret of how to make things dynamic and interesting.

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Graphic design is everywhere we look—from the colors on a box of cereal to advertisements plastering the walls of buildings to the shapes of labels on toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles. Illustrious graphic designer Kidd, who, among other things, created the iconic cover of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (1990), introduces kids to design elements they likely take for granted. But Kidd dispenses with the boring technical jargon and instead presents a rich, colorful, and captivating overview of the things designers consider every day. He clearly and engagingly explains concepts such as form, color, typography, and scale, but he relies far more on delicious full-page visuals of book covers, advertisements, vintage posters, and photographs to illustrate his points. The chapter on typography in particular makes excellent use of images to demonstrate concepts. Apart from geeking out about design elements, however, Kidd's primary goal is to encourage aspiring designers to pay attention to graphics they see every day in their favorite book covers, ads, and posters and to use this newfound knowledge to create their own designs. Captivating, eye-opening, and just plain cool. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

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From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg

From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Konigsburg, E.L.

Summary: Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.



Kirkus
/* Starred Review */ Elaine Konigsburg's first sharp bite of suburban life, Jennifer, He- cate, Macbeth...(131, J-43) was a dilly; this one's a dandy--just as fast and fresh and funny, but less spoofing, more penetrating. From the files of Mrs. Frankweiler comes the chronicle of Claudia Kincaid, almost twelve, and her brother Jamie, who is nine. Tired of being her same old taken-for-granted self, Claudia decides to run away, and Jamie goes along because he is flattered at being asked. Claudia has planned every detail: escape on the empty school bus, change of clothing in a violin case, sanctuary in the Metropolitan Museum. For a week the children elude the guards and exploit the opportunities of the museum: they sleep in a royal bed, bathe in the cafeteria pool, and pass part of each day in study on the fringe of lecture tours. Midweek, a marble angel of dubious origin arrives; Claudia is convinced that it is a Michelangelo and determines to prove it: she will authenticate Angel and become a heroine before going home. But no--by arrangement of Mrs. Frankweiler, she goes home a heroine only to herself (and happy); and she knows something about secrets she hadn't known before--they have to come to an end... Like the title, Mrs. Frankweiler is a bit of a nuisance; and an offhand, rather bemused reference to dope addiction is unnecessary but not inappropriate. What matters is that beyond the intriguing central situation and its ingenious, very natural development, there's a deepening rapport between their parents; "we're well trained (and sure of ourselves)...just look how nicely we've managed. It's really they're fault if we're not homesick." There may be a run on the Metropolitan (a map is provided); there will surely be a run on the book. (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1967)

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Justy my type - Simon Garfield

Just my type: a book about fonts - Garfield, Simon

Summary: A romp through the history of fonts and the lives of the great typographers, revealing the extent to which fonts are not only shaped by but also define the world in which we live.

Booklist Reviews
After confessing his stamp-collecting obsession in The Error World (2008), Garfield shares his ardor for typefaces in this ambushing and revelatory celebration. He begins by praising the computer's role in making us all font-savvy as we select among familiar and exotic offerings, from Arial to Ravie. But this easy access belies the deep story of the creation of alphabets from Gutenberg on. Garfield opens our eyes to type's technical evolution, the subtleties of font design (beauty versus readability), how type has gender, and even "type etiquette." But this isn't all p's and q's. Garfield matches flesh to type in avid profiles of gifted typographers, including the scandalous Eric Gill, Claude Garamond, John Baskerville, Frederic Goudy, and Luc(as) de Groot, creator of Calibri, which "has changed the whole look of mass communication." Signage, political campaigns, newspapers, websites, the ubiquitous Helvetica—how profoundly type shapes our world! Garfield's romping history (with multitype text) is zestfully informative. And who can resist a book with the sentence, "Hermann Zapf will always be remembered for his dingbats"? Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.

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Proteus a nineteenth century vision (DVD)

Proteus a nineteenth century vision (DVD)

Summary: Through the works of biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel, the role of the sea as the "outer space" of his time is explored. Based almost entirely on 19th-century scientific illustrations, paintings, and photographs brought to life through innovative animation, Proteus explores the undersea world through a complex tapestry of biology, oceanography, scientific history, poetry and myth.

Reviews:

A ONE-OF-A-KIND VISUAL TREAT! May cause audiences to look at (and think about) the world around them in dramatically different terms. --Variety

MAGNIFICENT...WONDERFUL! Like strolling through a cabinet of wonders. --TV Guide

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The art of Daniel Clowes - Daniel Clowes, Alvin Buenaventura, Chip Kidd and Chris Ware

The art of Daniel Clowes: modern cartoonist - Clowes, Daniel

Summary: Examines the work and accomplishments of the author of "Eightball," "Ghost World," and other alternative comics and graphic novels.



Booklist Reviews
Clowes is the ultimate alt-comics artist, combining drawing chops equal to those of Jaime Hernandez, the derisively skeptical attitude of a Peter Bagge, and a formal mastery of the medium that rivals Chris Ware's. This handsome volume, released in connection with a traveling exhibition of Clowes' artwork, offers an overview of his 25 years in comics, from his late-'80s magazine Eightball through his acclaimed graphic novels, including Ghost World (1997), David Boring (2000), and Wilson (2010). The volume opens with a recent, career-spanning interview and a generous selection of his groundbreaking Eightball-era work, followed by an appreciation by close friend Ware, who reminisces about their days as struggling cartoonists in Chicago in the early '90s (their informal collaborations are among the rarest of the many rarities reprinted in the book). Other essays offer insight into Clowes' later work, but it's the profusion of his artwork collected here—comics pages, unpublished sketches, New Yorker covers, and other commercial illustrations—that makes the most compelling case for Clowes as one of the most accomplished and important figures on the contemporary comics scene. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

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Wall and piece - Banksy

Wall and piece - Banksy

Summary: The collected works of Britain’s most wanted artist.
Artistic genius, political activist, painter and decorator, mythic legend or notorious graffiti artist? The work of Banksy is unmistakable, except maybe when it’s squatting in the Tate or New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Banksy is responsible for decorating the streets, walls, bridges and zoos of towns and cities throughout the world.
Witty and subversive, his stencils show monkeys with weapons of mass destruction, policeman with smiley faces, rats with drills and umbrellas. His statements, incitements, ironies and epigrams are by turns intelligent and cheeky comments on everything from the monarchy and capitalism to the war in Iraq and farm animals. - (Random House, Inc.)

Staff Review
One question-- How does he do it!?!
Watch 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' if you'd like to find out.

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Priceless - Robert K. Wittman

Priceless: how I went undercover to rescue the world's stolen treasures - Wittman, Robert

Summary: "Robert K. Wittman, the founder of the FBI's Art Crime Team, pulls back the curtain on his remarkable career, offering a real-life international thriller. The son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a twenty-year career going undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. Wittman tells the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities: the golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king; the Rodin sculpture that inspired the Impressionist movement; the rare Civil War battle flag carried into battle by one of the nation's first African-American regiments. The art thieves and scammers he caught run the gamut from rich to poor, smart to foolish, organized criminals to desperate loners. Wittman has saved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art and antiquities, but he considers them all equally priceless."--From publisher description.

Library Journal Reviews
The theft and retrieval of priceless works of art, historic documents, or artifacts can be a Herculean law enforcement challenge. With the creation of the FBI's Art Crime Team—led by 20-year veteran special agent Wittman—the reader enters a clandestine world of criminal activities of epic proportion. Writing with investigative reporter Shiffman, Wittman unfurls a web of intrigue and danger in this rare glimpse into high-level detective work that has resulted in the retrieval of more than $225 million worth of stolen artwork and documents in the past two decades. One of the recent cases solved by the Art Crime Team was the return of one of 14 original copies of the Bill of Rights taken by Union soldiers at the end of the American Civil War (this is depicted in full in David Howard's Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic). Wittman's successes as an undercover agent, extensive training in the world of art, and skill as a lead detective and investigator are well documented in this autobiography. VERDICT An essential read for those interested in art history and law enforcement.—Claire Franek, MSLS, Brockport, NY

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Hollywood Hills: a novel - Joseph Wambaugh

Hollywood Hills: a novel - Wambaugh, Joseph

Series Title: Hollwood Station Series

Summary: After a pair of drug-addled criminals aims to make a planned art heist their own, LAPD veteran "Hollywood Nate" Weiss, surfer cops Flotsam and Jetsam, and the rest of the team at Hollywood Station have a deadly situation on their hands.

Staff Review:
The 4th installment in the Hollywood Station series does not fail to entertain and amuse.

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